Outdoor construction or carpentry, as distinguished from the indoor work of the cabinet maker, calls for a general acquaintance with tools, some mathematics, an elementary knowledge of the strength of materials, and a good supply of common sense. It demands also some knowledge of the effects of frost on foundations, and requires judgment in providing for the elements, wind, rain, snow, and sun.

Every building may be resolved into certain parts, such as foundations, framing, roof, door, and window frames, outside covering or siding, flooring, partitions, doors and windows, wall covering or ceiling, interior finish, hardware, etc. These will be taken up in their order.

FOUNDATIONS

These, like all details, depend on the size and purpose of the building. The method of setting a small building on posts has been explained under poultry house, and sheltered seat for tennis court. It should be used only for small structures, such as camp buildings, sea-shore cottages, and out-buildings. Brick, stone, and concrete all have their advantages, but for young builders, concrete is perhaps the best and easiest to handle. The woodwork necessary for concrete work is extremely important, and its possibilities have hardly been touched, even to-day. The box or form should present the smooth side of the boards to the concrete, and should be so constructed that the form may be readily removed after the concrete has hardened. This sounds like a simple matter, but it becomes complicated in many cases. The method of fastening the wooden frame to a concrete foundation is suggested in the chapter on the making of a pergola. In some houses the frame is simply laid on the concrete, and the weight of the building is trusted to keep it in place.

In the case of small structures this would not be sufficient, and a better way would be to imbed bolts in the cement before it hardens. Pass these bolts through holes bored in the sill, and fasten them with nut and washer on top, after the concrete has hardened.

Any foundation should be sunk at least three feet in the ground, otherwise it will be "heaved" by the frost. Where a cellar is to be built, the foundation should be of sufficient depth to leave at least 6 feet 6 inches in the clear between floor of cellar and under side of floor beams, and seven feet would be better. If the foundation extends two feet above the ground, its bottom would be 5 feet 6 inches below the ground level.

The thickness of the concrete wall must depend on the size and weight of the building, and for a small cottage it should not be less than ten inches. The columns described for the pergola make an excellent foundation for a small building to be placed on posts, as they do not decay and are permanent. They may be used to advantage for porches in place of wooden posts.

After a building is completed, some of the top soil removed in digging the cellar should be graded up to the foundation at a slight slope, to shed the rain and carry it away from the building. The box for a concrete wall should be well supported and braced, as the weight is sufficient to force the boards out of position. The method shown at Fig. 226 is frequently used, the ⁷/₈ or 1 inch plank being supported by 2 × 4 inch studs, which in turn are braced as shown. On cheap work the outside boarding is omitted, the earth being shaved with the shovel as near the position of outer casing as possible. Of course, this earth wall is only useful within a foot or so from the surface. At this point the outer boarding must commence, and be continued to top of foundation. In order to have the foundation level on top, it is best to level the wooden form all around the four sides. If the concrete is brought exactly to the top, and a straight edge is run along the edges of the form, the resulting wall must be level, provided the box has been made so. Concrete does not flow enough to level itself.

FRAMING

This is a subject on which volumes have been written. The general arrangement with the names and sizes of the various members is shown in the drawing, a design for a small cottage, or bungalow. (Fig. 227.)

The heavy timbers forming the sill are cut to the outside dimensions of foundation and halved at the corners. Fasten the joints with ten or twelve penny nails. Cut all corner posts exactly the same length, toenail at corners to sill, and hold in position by temporary braces. Plumb the posts as the braces are nailed. Two boys must work at this job, one holding the plumb and the other nailing the braces. Cut and halve the ends of plate the same length as sill, and nail to corner posts. Cut 2 × 4 studs same length as posts, then nail to sill and plate 16 inches apart on centres. The openings to be left for doors and windows will break up the even spacing of the studs, but it should be made as uniform as possible. The spaces for door and window frames are to be enclosed with double studs to give the necessary strength. Corner braces are very desirable and in the old-fashioned braced frame were mortised into plate and post, and sill and post. (Fig. 227a.)

For a simple structure the necessary bracing may be obtained by "letting into" the studding 3 × 1 inch strips, as shown in drawing. To do this hold the brace in the position it is to occupy, and make a pencil mark on both sides of it on each timber, sawing on the inside of these lines to a depth equal to thickness of brace. Remove the wood between saw cuts with a chisel. Test to see that brace comes flush with outside of studs, and nail securely in position.

When the frame is finished up to the roof the putting on of the siding may begin at any time.

SIDING

The outside of the building, siding or weather boarding, is an important item, as it is designed to protect the interior from sun, cold, and storms. It should be watertight, and may be made of various materials, put on in several ways.

In a house to be used in winter, the first layer should be of wide ship-lap boards. If put on diagonally it will act as a permanent bracing, and while this is the better way, it takes more time than horizontal siding. In either case nail to every stud and timber the board touches. Begin at the bottom of sill, break joints as the work progresses upward, and saw ends even with outside of posts.

At all door and window openings bring edges of siding flush with openings.

This inner siding is to be covered with building paper, door and window frames set, tin flashing nailed over doors and windows, and outer covering put on.

Before proceeding with outside sheathing, however, the roof should be framed and covered.

ROOFING

It is a difficult matter to say that one part of a house is more important than another, as all parts are important, but a building with an unstable or leaky roof is an abomination. The framing of the roof must be strong enough to withstand gales, blizzards, drenching rains, and the weight of tons of wet snow.

As the method of shingling has been described under tennis court shelter, it is only necessary to take up the subject of the frame. Boys will do well to confine their early efforts to plain sloping, or possibly hipped roofs.

These two styles are illustrated in Fig. 229.

The hip roof is the more pleasing and the more difficult to make. It reduces the attic space, if that is a consideration, and is harder to cover, or rather it consumes more time, as the question of whether a piece of work is difficult or not is really a question of whether or not you know how to do it.The method of fitting the rafters is shown at Fig. 230. To find length of rafters, make a drawing to scale, in which a-b is the height above plate level and c-b half the width of the building measured on the plate or sill. The angle for cutting the mitre at the ridge may be obtained from the drawing, also the angles where the fit occurs at the plate. The length should be distance a-c plus about two feet for the overhang.

A ridge board is usually inserted between the top ends of the rafters, and if made from a ⁷/₈-inch board, half an inch should be deducted from the length of rafters to allow for the difference.

The shape of lower end of rafters will depend on the kind of finish or cornice to be used. Two kinds are shown, the first and simpler being suitable for a barn or rough building.

On account of the high price of lumber, most boys will be obliged to use the most inexpensive style of finish.

Cut all the rafters the same size, and in erecting space them as nearly two feet apart as possible.

The first pair should be flush with the edge of plate and temporarily held in position by braces of shingle lath. It will be necessary in erecting the roof to place timbers and floor boards across the top of plate as a temporary floor to work on. Nail rafters to ridge board, and plate with ten-penny wire nails. Two boys must work together on this job, as every part of the work must be plumb.

When all the rafters are in place, cut and fit the short studs between plate and rafters, being careful to leave the openings for windows in the places called for on the plan.

The ship-lap siding may now be continued up to top edge of rafters, and sawed off even with upper edge.

If novelty siding is used without any under sheathing, it may be treated in the same way.

Shingling may now be done as described under tennis court accessories.

WINDOW AND DOOR FRAMES

These may be bought at the mill ready made. Very few carpenters make their own, as they are staple articles coming in standard sizes. Second-hand sashes and frames may often be bought at very reasonable rates, and it never pays to make either.

Set the frames in the openings left for them, and nail to studs. To make sure that the fit between frames and openings shall be right, it is best to take the plans to the mill, and explain to the mill man just what is desired.

FLOORING

The floor beams may be set at any time after the frame has been erected up to the plate. As it will be necessary to work around inside more or less, the sooner they are in position the better. As these beams, supposed to be 10 × 2 inches, often vary in width, the floor is liable to be uneven, unless they are cut to fit the sill.

The amount cut out need not be very much, but a certain distance, say nine inches, should be marked from the top edge, and the lower corner cut out as shown at d (Fig. 230). This will bring all the top edges level, when they are in position.

The span of the floor beams—the distance from the sill to the next support—is important, as a floor is called upon sometimes to support great weight, as when a number of people are present, or a heavy piece of furniture such as a piano rests on it.

For floor beams 2 × 8, a span of not over twelve feet should be allowed; for 2 × 10 a slightly greater span may be used; but in either case the supporting beam in the centre of the floor should be halved into the sill with upper edge flush, and should be supported at intervals of ten feet by posts set in the floor of cellar, or to a depth of three feet in the ground in case there is no cellar. This supporting beam should be placed when the sill is set on foundation. Nail floor beams to sill, and where the two beams from opposite sides of the building lap or pass each other over the beam in centre, nail them to each other and to the beam.

The flooring of tongue and groove stuff may now be laid, cutting ends square and fitting them up close to studding, or, what is still better, clear out to the sheathing.

The outside weather boards may now be put on, after deciding on one of the corner finishes described under poultry house. A flashing of tin—painted—must be placed over door and window frames, before the clapboarding or siding reaches these points. This siding is sawed off square, and makes a butt joint with the outer casing of door and window frames.

Some form of building paper is nailed to the first siding in good buildings, and pays for itself in the long run, by reducing the amount of fuel necessary to heat the building in winter.

If the house is a sea-shore cottage or camp only to be used in summer, both the paper and inner sheathing may be omitted, and the expense account materially reduced.

The finishing of the interior may be left to the last, or done on stormy days. In the meanwhile, several important questions must be settled. One is the style of flue or chimney to be provided for the stove.

If the building is to be permanent, a brick chimney should be built by a mason. The danger of fire originating from defective bricklaying makes it advisable to have this work done by a tradesman.

For summer cottages or camp buildings a simple stove pipe can be used, but in any event it should be put up before the final roof covering is on, and "flashed," that is protected by tin laid over the roof timbers, and made watertight. This does away with leaks around the chimney, and the tin should be put on in such a way as to prevent the shingles from coming in direct contact with the hot chimney.

In these days of oil stoves, which are often used for summer cooking, the chimney may be omitted entirely. At the same time it must be remembered that there are cold, damp nights, when a stove is very comfortable at the shore or in the woods.

In regard to interior finish, if the walls are to be plastered, three coats will need to be put on by a skilled plasterer. Thin yellow pine ceiling stuff, often used for camp buildings, is easily put on, and quite satisfactory. Laid on diagonally it is very pleasing, but the beads catch more dust than the vertical strips do. The latter method calls for horizontal strips laid between the studs for nailing, while a simple quarter round moulding laid in all corners gives the finish. A common practice in camps is to have no interior wall covering, but to leave the timbers exposed. For a dwelling, the frame should be of dressed lumber, which may be stained to conform with the general colour scheme.

The inside trim around doors and windows may now be put on. Three methods of finishing around windows are shown at e, f, g (Fig. 230), and one of these types should be adopted before ordering the trim from the mill. This work should be simplified as much as possible, not only to save time, but because decoration may well be left to pictures, artistic metal work, trophies, and things which are of interest from their history or association.

DOORS AND WINDOWS

If second-hand material is not used it is advisable to purchase these staple articles from a mill where they are made in standard sizes.When ordered for certain size spaces they come a little too large. This allowance is for material to be removed in fitting. Inside doors are usually the last things to be hung. The windows should be hung as soon as the construction will allow it, in order to keep out rain.

Secure the pulleys for upper and lower sash into the window frame on both sides of parting strip about four inches from top of window frame.

Attach the sash cord and find its proper length by experiment. Tie securely to sash weights. See that the two sashes make a good, tight joint where they meet, and tack the window stop to frame with brads. The stop is to be ordered with the trim, and mitred at the top. The construction at the sill is shown at a (Fig. 230).

The arrangement of door frames is shown at b. After mitring the door stop, nail to door frame at a distance from its edge equal to thickness of door. Fit the door by planing to the space inside frame. The hinges are put on as shown, being sunk flush with edge of both door and door frame. When hanging the door, it is a good plan to place small wedges under it, to allow for the sag which will result as soon as its weight is thrown on the hinges.

Saddles are usually placed under doors to allow them to swing clear of carpet and rugs. To allow for the thickness of these saddles, ³/₄ inch should be allowed between floor and bottom of door. The saddles are to be fitted around edges of door frame, making a neat finish.

For plastered walls a six-inch base board is necessary. This may be put on with butt joints and nailed to studding with small head finishing nails, as for all trim.

The base is usually topped by a base moulding mitred in the corners.

This style of construction is for a permanent house. For rough or temporary buildings, many modifications may be adopted. Batten doors, as described for the poultry house, may be cheaply and readily made.

Batten blinds made by the same method are very desirable for buildings like summer camps, which are to be vacant for long periods. This does away with the temptation some people find to break windows in unoccupied houses.

The siding for a small building may be of tongue and groove boards put on vertically, and now that lumber is so expensive these items are all important.

The lumber from packing cases may be used for making very many of the pieces of furniture in a camp, such as stools, benches, tables, shelves, cupboards, bookcases, etc. Many of these useful articles can be made without tearing the boxes apart.

A very useful chest and seat combined may be made by fitting a box with a strong cover, strengthened by cleats on its under side and hinged with strap hinges to the back.

A cushion of burlap filled with shavings, straw, seaweed, or sweet grass will make this a very satisfactory settee, and the storage space inside will always be available. The outside of the box should be smoothed, all nail holes filled with putty, and the whole thing stained.

Very interesting panelling effects may be obtained by tacking on strips of the same thickness as the outside cleats.

Where the supply of wood is limited, many similar articles will suggest themselves to the young carpenter. The chair shown at Fig. 231a can all be made of wood from packing boxes, except the square legs. These may be obtained by sawing 2 × 4 inch spruce in half and planing smooth. The rails can be put on with mortise and tenon, or they may be gained into the legs and fastened with nails or screws. The seat is built up of several pieces fastened to cleats on under side, with front edges rounded. To make this hard bottomed chair more comfortable, have a thin cushion of canvas or burlap fastened by a canvas cover and tacked to edges. The wide strip across the back may be treated in the same way. One coat of stain, or two of Japalac or some similarly prepared varnish will make a very serviceable finish for camp purposes.

The proportions of a porch settee of the same general character are given at Fig. 231b. The legs may be cut out of pieces of spruce studding, and all but the long rails obtained from box material. These long pieces may be cut from ⁷/₈-inch siding left over when putting up the cabin. Floor boards with tongue and groove planed off will answer very well.The long back strip will be more rigid if mortised into the ends, and the upright strips will be needed to give it the necessary strength.

One of the most comfortable articles for a camp in the woods is the couch hammock. The materials required are:

Remove the legs from the cot. They are usually attached by bolts or rivets. If the latter, cut with a cold chisel.

Lay the canvas in one piece on the floor and place the cot at its centre. Make pencil marks at the ends to indicate where the fold begins as at B B (Fig. 232). Lap the canvas as shown and sew securely, leaving a space at the fold for the clothesline to pass through.The square ends are to be hemmed and folded over pieces of broomstick.

With the grommet punch make holes through the canvas just below the broomstick and secure with the grommets. Make these holes about 5 inches apart. They are to hold the line which is to pass from iron fitting C through first grommet hole and back until it has passed once through each grommet.

The fitting is found on all hammocks and can be taken from an old one, or an iron ring may be substituted. Before beginning to weave the rope through the grommets, pass its end down to B and make fast to a stout screw eye fastened to under side of frame of cot. This brings the weight on the rope instead of on the canvas, an important item when five or six people sit on the couch at one time. Treat both ends alike. The canvas will be wide enough to fold up and entirely cover the edges of cot. When everything has been adjusted, fasten the chains or heavy rope to the iron rings, and secure to the trees or veranda columns by heavy hooks. A light mattress covered with blankets, or a specially made cushion to cover the whole cot, and several sofa pillows will add the finishing touches to a very serviceable and satisfactory article.

The cost will be about one third of those on sale, and this may be reduced 50 per cent. if a grommet set can be borrowed, as this is the chief item of expense, assuming that an old cot is used.

This hammock should not be left out in the rain, as its steel springs will rust.